| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| 1 Give ye thanks unto Jehovah, call upon his name; make known his acts among the peoples. |
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| 2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him; meditate upon all his wondrous works. |
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| 3 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek Jehovah. |
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| 4 Seek Jehovah and his strength, seek his face continually; |
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| 5 Remember his wondrous works which he hath done, his miracles and the judgments of his mouth: |
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| 6 Ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. |
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| 7 He, Jehovah, is our God; his judgments are in all the earth. |
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| 8 He is ever mindful of his covenant, --the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, -- |
Covenant for ever – Both the Abrahamic covenant (spoken of here) and the New covenant are scripturally styled "The Everlasting covenant, " in contrast with the Law covenant, which passed away. R4321:2
The one covenant is perpetual in the other, even as the spiritual seed shall rule and bless through the earthly. R4321:2
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| 9 Which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; |
Which covenant – The promise of the land was the covenant. HG44:1
His oath – Confirmation of the participation of Isaac and Jacob in the great promise that God made to Abraham. OV73:2
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| 10 And he confirmed it unto Jacob for a statute, unto Israel for an everlasting covenant, |
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| 11 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance; |
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| 12 When they were a few men in number, of small account, and strangers in it. |
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| 13 And they went from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. |
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| 14 He suffered no man to oppress them, and reproved kings for their sakes, |
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| 15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm. |
Touch not mine anointed – An assault on one of these would be an attack on the Almighty's arrangements. R5673:2
Though King Saul was the Lord's anointed, we are not to think of the kings of today as the Lord's anointed. They are their own anointed. Their kingdoms are kingdoms of this world. R5673:2
We shall not be injured as New Creatures, no matter what the Lord may permit to come against us according to the flesh. R4219:2
My prophets – Ministers. R4219:2
No harm – Injure your real, highest, interests. R4219:2
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| 16 And he called for a famine upon the land; he broke the whole staff of bread. |
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| 17 He sent a man before them: Joseph was sold for a bondman. |
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| 18 They afflicted his feet with fetters; his soul came into irons; |
Hurt with fetters – With a clear conscience, and a sense of the divine approval, Joseph determined to make the best of that situation also. R1640:2
For very shame's sake, we should strive at least to come up to the standard of Joseph. R3973:4
Egyptian prisons were terrible places, with the prisoners horribly mistreated. R2886:2, R3973:3
He – Nephesh, soul, sentient being. E334
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| 19 Until the time when what he said came about: the word of Jehovah tried him. |
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| 20 The king sent and loosed him--the ruler of peoples--and let him go free. |
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| 21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler over all his possessions: |
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| 22 To bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his elders wisdom. |
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| 23 And Israel came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. |
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| 24 And he made his people exceeding fruitful, and made them mightier than their oppressors. |
Increased his people – Israel's increase was a miracle. HG362:3
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| 25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants. |
Turned their heart – Injustice inequity iniquity got such a hold upon them. R5271:2
To deal subtilly – The practice of injustice injures both parties the afflicter as seriously as the afflicted. R5271:1
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| 26 He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen: |
Moses his servant – Who stood in the position of a father to the whole nation. R1725:3
Who acted representatively in bringing the Jews under the Law covenant, as Christ acted representatively in removing it. R1725:4
Thus, as God's representative on the one hand, and Israel's on the other, Moses could be the Mediator of the Law covenant between God and that nation. R5046:6
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| 27 They set his signs among them, and miracles in the land of Ham. |
Shewed his signs – The plagues were doubtless a full compensation of justice upon them, equivalent to the injuries which they had practiced. R5271:3
And wonders – The Egyptian plagues were miraculous from one viewpoint; not so from another. R5271:3
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| 28 He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. |
He sent darkness – Perhaps produced by the dust in the air. R5272:5
Pharaoh considered the sun god of the Egyptians as the powerful one. R5271:5
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| 29 He turned their waters into blood, and caused their fish to die. |
Waters into blood – Possibly produced by some micro-organisms in the water, the miracle being the ability of Moses and Aaron to effect the change at their command, and to abate it. R5271:6
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| 30 Their land swarmed with frogs, --in the chambers of their kings. |
Brought forth frogs – Which Pharaoh's magicians were unable to remove. R5272:1
Psalms 105:31 Divers sorts of flies – Gnats, mosquitoes, house flies and cattle flies. R5272:2
And lice – Dust ticks, probably breeding on the decaying heaps of frogs. R5272:2
In all their coasts – The miracle consisting in producing these ticks in unusual numbers--not merely in the desert wilds, but throughout Egypt. R5272:2
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| 31 He spoke, and there came dog-flies, and gnats in all their borders. |
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| 32 He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land; |
Hail for rain – A cyclone. R5272:4
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| 33 And he smote their vines and their fig-trees, and broke the trees of their borders. |
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| 34 He spoke, and the locust came, and the cankerworm, even without number; |
Without number – Immense swarms of locusts that have come upon Egypt from Nubia have covered the ground for miles--sometimes to a depth of 15 inches. R5272:5
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| 35 And they devoured every herb in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. |
Eat up all the herbs – Locusts are apt to eat everything that is green before they fly away. R5272:5
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| 36 And he smote every firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigour. |
Smote also – The penalty was not so much in the death as in the suddenness of it. R5272:6
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| 37 And he brought them forth with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble among their tribes. |
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| 38 Egypt rejoiced at their departure; for the fear of them had fallen upon them. |
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| 39 He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night. |
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| 40 They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. |
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| 41 He opened the rock, and waters gushed forth; they ran in the dry places like a river. |
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| 42 For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham his servant; |
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| 43 And he brought forth his people with gladness, his chosen with rejoicing; |
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| 44 And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the labour of the peoples: |
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| 45 That they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Hallelujah! |
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